Capital market-relevant press releases Dec 4, 2003 1:00 AM
ThyssenKrupp held up well in fiscal year 2002/2003
Normalized earnings climbed to 734 million euros/Further improvement planned in current fiscal year
ThyssenKrupp held up well in fiscal 2002/2003:
- Normalized earnings improved from 419 euros million to 734 million euros.
- Consolidated net income increased from 216 million euros to 512 million euros.
- Earnings per share amounted to 1.01 euros, compared with 0.42 euros the year before, while normalized earnings per share increased from 0.48 euros to 0.89 euros.
- Net financial payables at September 30, 2003 were well below 5 billion euros at 4.2 billion euros. This means that despite the share repurchase in May 2003 we have reduced net debt by more than 4 billion euros since summer 2001.
- The Group`s gearing - the ratio of net debt to equity - improved from 57.2% to 55.5%.
- In its meeting on December 3, 2003, the Supervisory Board accepted the Executive Board`s proposal that an increase in the dividend from 0.40 euros to 0.50 euros be recommended to the Annual Stockholders` Meeting.
Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG, Prof. Dr. Schulz: "Behind these figures lies a significant improvement in the quality of our earnings, driven not least by the many successfully implemented measures to enhance the Group`s efficency."
The 2002/2003 fiscal year was negatively impacted by the continued disappointing performance of numerous national economies. The global economy in 2003 was weaker than had been expected at the end of the previous year. The growth forecasts for key industrialized nations had to be scaled back in some cases by more than half in the course of the year.
The economic situation also left its mark on ThyssenKrupp. Order intake decreased by 1% to 36 billion euros, while sales fell 2% to 36.1 billion euros. If the euro/dollar exchange rate had not changed, our segments` order intake and sales would have improved by a good 2% each.
For the current fiscal year sales in the region of 38 billion euros are expected. Schulz: "If the widely forecast weak economic recovery materializes, this would naturally also benefit our business performance. We aim to achieve a significant improvement in normalized earnings before taxes. The dividend will again be based on normalized earnings per share."
ThyssenKrupp is sticking to its target of achieving normalized income before taxes of 1.5 billion euros as quickly as possible. Schulz: "We will not be able to meet this target this year, as the forecast growth rates are too low and subject to too many uncertainties, but we are convinced that it accurately reflects ThyssenKrupp`s potential."
Contact:
Dr. Jürgen Claassen
Corporate Communications and Central Bureau
Telephone +49 (211) 824-36002
Fax +49 (211) 824-36005
E-mail: presse@tk.thyssenkrupp.com
www.thyssenkrupp.com